I’ve been ready for a break from my child (as if that were
some big secret). I love her dearly, and
she is everything to me. But my
goodness, 24/7 mamahood wears me out.
She’s fabulous, she’s curious, but Sol is EXHAUSTING. So naturally, then, I thought it would be
easy-peasy to drop little Solchop off, knowing that it would be almost 10 whole
days before I saw her again. And it was
relatively easy, considering the terrific hands I was leaving her in.
I dropped Sol off at Aunt Liz’s house on Thursday afternoon
after celebrating America’s birthday by cleaning the house (deep cleaning),
finishing up laundry, cooking, vacuuming, and preparing everything for the
Sol-sitter that would be spending the following week at our house. The drop-off was easy. Sol has arrived at that fabulous age where
she couldn’t care less where I am or what I’m doing, as long as there is a
fluffy canine tail to chase or a long-lashed cousin to hug. She didn’t care that I had spent 3 days
drafting an informational packet to leave with her caretakers while I was in
Guatemala. She didn’t care that I had
spent 3 nights planning and pre-cooking meals for her to eat while I was out of
town. She didn’t care that I had packed
and repacked her suitcase for Aunt Liz’s, making sure she had adequate supplies
of swim diapers and regular diapers, string cheese and Cheerios. She didn’t care that I left. She didn’t care that I had given her 18 hugs
and 118 kisses.
And that made it easier to leave her.
Which was cool, because I needed to go to Detroit that night
in order to fly out to Guatemala the following morning.
Very few have had the privilege of seeing me at 3am, and
Motown has now been added to the roster.
Congrats, D-town. That’s
right. 3am wake up, 4am arrival to the
airport, 6am flight. Then some travel
for abouuuuuuut 18 hours, including 1 shuttle ride, 2 plane rides, and the
longest bus trip down the windiest roads I’ve ever experienced, with 2+
near-death experiences down a narrow mountain highway road. (Rock wall on your right, deadly cliff to
your left, passing 5 semis and headed straight toward an oncoming semi…
HEART. STOPS.)
So after a long 18-hr journey, 18 folks in matching purple
shirts finally arrived this evening at the Hotel Pasabien in Zacapa, Guatemala. We ate a light dinner, celebrated a birthday
(in true Guatemala cumpleanos style, with firecrackers and cake and
everything), took some long-awaited showers (sans any trace of hot water), and retired to our thatched-roof shacks to wind down before an
early morning of fixin’ eyes tomorrow.
Yep, tomorrow we’re setting up an eyeglass clinic for the locals, in
which we’ll test their prescriptions, fit them with a pair of glasses, and send
them on their way with a happy heart and [finally] clear vision.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we venture out on
our first day!
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